Prep football: First Baptist cruises to easy win over St. Stephen's

The Lions grounded the Falcons 67-0 Friday night to run their season record to 2-0. It's the first 2-0 start in First Baptist history, and both games counted in the Class 2A-District 6 standings. Video by NBC-2

Video by NBC-2

NAPLES - FIRST BAPTIST 67, ST. STEPHEN'S 0

SSE 0 0 0 0 — 0

FBA 39 14 8 6 — 67

SCORING

First quarter

FBA — Bueltel 40 pass from Todd (kick failed), 11:04

FBA — Dorrill 4 run (run failed), 6:53

FBA — Bueltel 40 pass from Todd (Scullin kick), 6:45

FBA — Todd 1 run (Scullin kick), 4:17

FBA — Bueltel 80 pass from Todd (kick failed), 2:03

FBA — Ritter 42 interception return (Scullin kick), 0:30

Second quarter

FBA — Walker 24 pass from Todd (Scullin kick), 3:10

FBA — Bueltel 65 run (Scullin kick), 0:37

Third quarter

FBA — Walker 6 pass from Dean (Rodriguez run), 5:01

Fourth quarter

FBA — Cibelli 30 run (kick failed), 4:10

On paper, they were heavy favorites.

On the pristine artificial turf at First Baptist Academy, the Lions were much heavier than imagined.

Against an overmatched Bradenton-St. Stephen's Episcopal squad, coach Billy Sparacio's Lions grounded the Falcons 67-0 Friday night to run their season record to 2-0. It's the first 2-0 start in First Baptist history, and both games counted in the Class 2A-District 6 standings.

Upcoming meetings with North Port-Imagine (away) and Southwest Florida Christian (home) should set the table for the Lions' home showdown against district foe St. John Neumann in Week 5.

FBA turned four St. Stephen's turnovers into first-quarter touchdowns to take command of the game early.

"It's kind of hard to take something from a game like this, but you can't let something spoil your joy," Sparacio said. "Our kids have worked hard for four years to be in a position to play well. At the end of the day, I take away a group of kids who play hard until they're told not to. We've been on the other end of scores like this so we know how it feels."

In the opening period, Corey Todd hooked up with Jonah Bueltel twice for 40-yard touchdown strikes. Bueltel also scored on an 80-yard dash late in the period. Christopher Dorrill had a 4-yard TD and Todd took it in from 1 yard out.

FBA's Ben Ritter had two first-quarter interceptions, the second of which he returned 42 yards for a touchdown with 30 seconds left in the first period.

To make matters worse, the Falcons' best offensive weapon, Herman Israelson, went down with an injury on the first play of the second quarter. At that point, the coaches agreed to take time off the clock to six minutes. The running clock was not invoked until the second half, according to FHSAA rules.

While FBA has started out strong in 2012, the opposite can be said of St. Stephen's, which lost its season-opener to St. John Neumann 57-0.

In the second quarter, the Lions added two more TDs as Jake Walker hauled in a 24-yard pass from Todd, and Bueltel, from the QB position, raced 65 yards.

Amazingly in the first half, First Baptist racked up 53 points with only 17 plays from scrimmage. Two of the 17 were interceptions by St. Stephen's.

Freshman QB Tyler Dean tossed a 6-yard TD pass to Walker in the third period. Dean is the son of former Barron Collier and University of Florida standout quarterback Terry Dean. The elder Dean is one of the Lions' assistant coaches.

The young Dean also had an 89-yard TD pass to Kody VanDuser erased by an illegal block penalty.

The Lions' defense again was stout. St. Stephen's was held to just 43 total yards.

Sparacio said that despite the fast start this season, his team still has work to do.

"I'm looking for us to be more consistent with some of the little things that people maybe don't see. We need to get sharper with the little things. The defense? Well, I said it last week and it's the same thing this week. Our coaches prepare our kids so well. Good things are starting to happen because of their hard work."

Dorrill netted 53 yards rushing on seven first-half carries. Sophomore Christian Rodriguez ended up with 60 yards on seven carries — all in the second half.